How a grass fire at a Canadian military base killed four soldiers

On Saturday morning, Canadian military officials at a base in Alberta province observed a grass fire that appeared sufficiently contained, allowing soldiers to conduct live-fire combat training. Then, the officials say, the wind shifted. In less than a minute, Canadian soldiers went from training drills to being engulfed in flames, said Major-General Wade Rutland, describing the incident that killed four soldiers and injured 39 people, 19 of them critically. “The fire was a kilometre away when the wind shifted. That is not normal for a fire to move a kilometre in 36 seconds,” Rutland said at a news conference in Edmonton, the capital of Alberta, on Sunday.